


Bridging the Gap

by caelondian



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 19:52:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11630715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caelondian/pseuds/caelondian
Summary: Prompt stuff from Discord group. If it isn't obvious, I don't ship much tbqh.





	Bridging the Gap

This was probably the fourth time she had broken down in the month after the war. Four letters flashed in Squall's mind as she bawled, cupped in his arms and still in a belated emotional turmoil.

She asked herself the same stupid questions every time, too.

"I thought he liked me more than that. Why did he give me to the Sorceress?", and "He was a good guy. Why did he give in so easily?", and "Am I ever gonna get over this?" She asked Squall the last one sometimes. He would usually shrug and not be able to say anything, just holding her, stroking her hair, uncomfortable.

It took her months to stop crying, and for months after that, whenever she'd see him on magazine covers or news reports, she had to look away to forget both the Seifer she really knew, and the Seifer she was left with in a shattered memory.

* * *

It took years and a disappointing breakup to have a breath of fresh salt air and not scream internally when she saw him. A little more wrecked than normal, but different. _Himself_. Her fingers reached up to touch her lips, contemplating. Her eyes trained on him in a hyperfocused stare, wondering about who he was today. Was he himself yet? Would he ever be? She didn't know whether to trust him or even talk to him if he was the person she last saw. But then again...was _she_ the same anymore?

She scraped all her courage, feeling small and like she was about to yell at her father like she always had, and marched straight over to the tall idiot. Before he was even done grabbing the snack he was buying, she threw her hardest punch, pushing all her anger and frustration, and old love, behind it.

To him, it was like a slap.

"The hell?!"

He turned to find a red-faced, slightly teary Rinoa. But he was partly dumbfounded and surprised to see her, and he failed to say anything.

"You're a stupid dummy, and I don't know if I forgive you yet!"

He finally closed his mouth, and gave his goofy half grin to her. He nodded, folded his arms, and shrugged.

"Well. Go 'head, then. Lay it on me."

And she did. In public. And he took it. Took the ridiculous names, the firm accusations (which he spent a long time mulling over, through probations and tracking devices), the bits that hurt more because they came from her.

He glanced around when she was done.

"Where's your guard dog?"

"I put him in the pound."

Two grins. One silent moment. Then bursts of laughter.

She thought, maybe it _was_ time to mend the past. Maybe it _was_ time to rebuild something broken.


End file.
